AUSTIN — Today the Texas General Land Office joined with representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Galveston District and the Galveston Park Board of Trustees to mark the completion of the second of three beach renourishment projects in Galveston. This beach restoration project created new beaches west of 61st Street, an area in front of the seawall that has been without a beach for several decades. Speakers at the ceremony included USACE Galveston District Commander Col. Richard P. Pannell, Texas General Land Office Chief Clerk Anne Idsal, and Galveston Park Board of Trustees Executive Director Kelly de Schaun.

"The Texas General Land Office is excited to keep forging bonds with local leaders, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Galveston Park Board in our continuing commitment to preserve, protect and rebuild our Texas coast," said GLO Chief Clerk Anne Idsal. "By crafting a partnership that brings us together we have saved tax payers more than $16.5 million on this project. It's a commitment that is part of a unified vision to protect the Texas coast, whether it is from the next big storm or daily erosion."

In an effort to reduce the cost of this beach renourishment project, in April of 2015 the GLO executed the Supplemental Agreement with the USACE to provide $8,990,000 as an incremental cost for the maintenance dredging of the ship channel to place approximately 725,000 cubic yards of beach quality sand along the seawall between 61st street and 81st street. Paying the incremental costs only, as opposed to the entire dredging and placement costs, substantially decreases the costs of nourishment projects. Rebuilding the beach using sand dredged from the Galveston Ship Channel reduced the cost of building the beach by more than sixty percent. The incremental cost was shared between the GLO (22%) and the Galveston Park Board (78%).

As of early November 2015, 434,517 cubic yards of sand has been placed on the beach, which has provided 3,725 feet of new beach and a width of approximately 300 feet. The first of the three beach renourishment projects was located near the west end of the Seawall at Dellanera Park and was completed in March of 2015.The third project will be from 12th to 61st and construction is expected to begin in early 2016. In total more than two million cubic yards of sand will be deposited on Galveston beaches. The combination of these three projects is the largest series of beach nourishment projects in the history of the state.